What the next generation will value most.
is not what we owned,
but the evidence of who we were
and the tales of how we lived.
In the end,
it’s the family stories that are worth the storage.”
— Ellen Goodman

After so many, many years of searching for the parents of my maternal great, great, grandfather, John Cornelius O’Connor, it feels surreal to be writing about them, to be sharing their lives with you.
Even though it’s been brought into question if I should be letting sleeping dogs lie and not write about their lives, I wholeheartedly feel, without a shadow of a doubt, that honouring my forbearers and sharing their life stories, is one of my main purposes in life.
I openly admit I’m not the most intelligent of souls, I get confused very easily, brain fog is a daily battle, my vocabulary is more often than not, muddled, I have hardest of times, with pronunciation, let alone reading, not just the complicated words but a lot of simple words to. My brain does not absorb information and numbers may as well be Ancient Greek. (Dyslexia is hard.)
However, I feel I have found my calling, as well as self worth, in research and I think I do an ok job at it.
If nothing else, my love and passion for our ancestors and their history is soul consuming. And with every life story I write about, I give every inch of my heart, soul and entire being to honour them.
I love each and everyone of them. Yes I know that seems strange, as I never met them, but I have dedicated so much of my life, learning about my family, I feel like I know them. Yes I know that sounds a little if not a lot, crazy.
I wholeheartedly respect them. And I will do my up most to honour, every expect of their life journeys, the good the bad and the in between.

Today I wish to share, the life of Ann Arter, my maternal 3rd Great-Grandmother but before I start, let’s look at her surname Arter.

This unusual and interesting name Arter, is the subject of some controversy regarding its origins. Certainly, it derives from the Celtic personal name “Arthur”, but there is some doubt as to the etymology of the name. It is thought to be composed of “art”, in Old Welsh “arth”, meaning “bear”, with the Old Welsh “gwr”, meaning “hero”. The name development includes: Robertus Arcturi (1197, Herefordshire); Adam Arthur (1246, Lancashire); Adam Arthur (1246, Lancashire); and Henry Artur.
The Old Norse personal name “Arnthorr”, derived from “arn”, eagle, and “Thorr”, the name of the god of thunder, has been absorbed into the Celtic name “Arthur”, for centuries now associated with the historical 6th Century British leader who fought victorious battles against the Saxon invaders. The modern forms of the name are Arthur, Arter, Artharg, Arthurs and Arthars, the last two being the patronymic forms, meaning “son of Arthur”. One Mathew Arthur of Plimpton, aged 18 yrs., departed from Plymouth in February 1634, aboard the “Bonaventure” bound for St. Christophers. He was one of the earliest namebearers to settle in the New World Colonies. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Geoffrey Arthur, which was dated 1135, in “Records of Oseney Abbey”, Oxfordshire, during the reign of King Henry 1, known as “The Lion of Justice”, 1100 – 1135. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to “develop” often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Notable people with the surname include:

• Harry Arter
• Jared Maurice Arter
• Kingsley Arter Taft
• Philip and Uriah Arter, after whom Philip and Uriah Arter Farm is named
• Robert Arter
• Solomon Arter, after whom Solomon Arter House is named
• Charlotte Arter

According to Find My Past, World War I records, 32 Arters served in the First World War.
Find My Past have only 45 Arter’s in criminal records.
In the 1900s, Arter’s mainly lived in London but in 1841 they were mainly found in, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, Channel Islands, Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumberland, Derbyshire, Devon and Dorset.
According to the 1901 Census, 37 Arters worked in domestic service. In general the top Arter professions were, Agricultural Labourer, Independent, Labourer, Female Servant, Male Servant, Shoe Maker, Silk Weaver, Plasterer, Butcher and pauper.
The top 5 Arter maiden names were, William, Mary, John, Elizabeth and Sarah, with Ann being 9th

Without further ado I give you,

The Life Of Ann Arter.
1847-1894,
Through Documentation.

Welcome to the year 1847, in Victorian Britain.
Queen Victoria was on the throne, Lord John Russell (Whig) was Prime Minister, Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston was Foreign Secretary  and it was the 14th (until 23 July), 15th (starting 18 November) parliament.
The Irish Confederation was formed by people in the Young Ireland movement who had broken away from the Repeal Association.
All thirteen members of the Point of Ayr life-boat crew were drowned when it capsizes off Rhyl.
A cast iron girder bridge across the river Dee at Chester, designed by Robert Stephenson for the Chester and Holyhead Railway, collapsed under a Shrewsbury and Chester Railway train with five fatalities.
A new system of county courts, with 60 judicial circuits and 491 courts, came into operation in England and Wales under terms of the County Courts Act (28 August 1846).
William Shakespeare‘s birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon was bought by the United Shakespeare Company for preservation.

And Ann Arter, my maternal 3rd Great Grandmother, was born on Sunday, the 19th of September, 1847, at number 4, Mulberry Tree Court, Mile End Old Town, Stepney, Middlesex, England, to George Arter, a rope maker and Mary Ann Arter nee Duffy.
Her mother, Mary Ann, registered her birth on the 26th October 1847.
She gave their abode as, 4, Mulberry Tree Court, Stepney.

Mile End is a district of the London Borough of Tower Hamletsin the East End of London, England, 4.2 miles (6.8 km) east-northeast of Charing Cross. Situated on the London-to-Colchester road, it was one of the earliest suburbs of London. It became part of the metropolitan area in 1855, and is connected to the London Underground.
It was also known as Mile End Old Town; the name provides a geographical distinction from the unconnected former hamlet called Mile End New Town.
Whilst there are many references to settlements in the area, excavations have suggested there were very few buildings before 1300.
Mile End Road is an ancient route from London to the East. It moved to its present-day alignment after the foundation of Bow Bridge in 1110. In the medieval period it was known as ‘Aldgatestrete’ because it led to the eastern entrance to the City of London at Aldgate. The area running alongside Mile End Road was known as Mile End Green, and became known as a place of assembly for Londoners, as reflected in the name of Assembly Passage.
For most of the medieval period, Mile End Road was surrounded by open fields.

Ann’s mum, Mary Ann Arter nee Duffy, sadly passed away on Tuesday March the 6th, 1849, at Number 3, Ocean Row, Lower Mile End Old Town, Stepney, Middlesex, England, when she was only 26 years old.
She died from Typhoid Fever, 16 days, certificated.
Ann’s father, George Arter, whom was a mat maker at the time, was present and registered her death on Wednesday the 7th of March, 1849.

She was laid to rest, on Monday the 11th of March, 1849, at St. Dunstan, Stepney, London, England.

St Dunstan’s, Stepney, is an Anglican Church which stands on a site that has been used for Christian worship for over a thousand years. It is located in Stepney High Street, in Stepney, London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

Two short years later, it was now the year 1851, Queen Victoria was on the throne, Lord John Russell (Whig) was Prime Minister, Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (until 26 December) Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville (starting 26 December) was the foreign Secretary and it was the 15th Parliament.
Henry Edward Manning was received into the Roman Catholic Church.
The Royal Marsden was established as the Free Cancer Hospital by surgeon William Marsden in London, the world’s first specialist cancer hospital.
Ariel and Umbriel, moons of Uranus, were discovered by William Lassell.
Window tax was abolished.
Florence Nightingale‘s father allowed her to return to the Institution of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserswerth in Germany for 3 months of nurse training.
And the 1851 census, the first to include detailed ages, date of birth, occupations, and marital status of those listed, was taken on the eve of Sunday the 30th March 1851, which shows, Ann and her father, George, brother George and her Step- Grandmother Ann Snuggs, residing at, Ocean Row, Ratcliff, Saint Dunstan, Stepney, London & Middlesex, England.
Her father George and 5 year old brother George, were working as rope makers and her Step-Grandmother was a house Keeper.

Tragedy hit the family when Ann’s father, George Arter, died on the 20th June 1854 at, 3 Bull Lane, Ratcliff, Stepney, London, England aged 30.
He Died from phthisic, a wasting illness of the lungs, such as asthma or tuberculosis.
His step daughter Sophie was present and registered his death, on the 26th of June 1854, in Stepney.

The Arter family, laid George Arter to rest, on Tuesday 27th June 1854, at Victoria Park Cemetery, Hackney, Middlesex, England, aka Meath Gardens.

Meath Gardens is a 4.1642 hectares (10.290 acres) park in Bethnal Green in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, England, and opened to the public in 1894. Before it became a park, it was the Victoria Park Cemetery.

My heart more than aches for Ann, losing both, your parents must be horrendous, especially at such a young age.
What will happen to her now?

Jumping forward to the year 1861, Queen Victoria was on the throne, it was the 18th Parliament and Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (Liberal) was prime minister.
Charles Dickens‘ novel Great Expectations was completed in book form.
American Civil War broke out, leading to Lancashire Cotton Famine (1861–1865).
James Clerk Maxwell demonstrated the principle of three-colour photography.

Criminal Law Consolidation Acts (drafted by Charles Sprengel Greaves) granted Royal Assent, which generally came into effect on the 1st of November.
The death penalty was limited to murder, embezzlement, piracy, high treason and to acts of arson perpetrated upon docks or ammunition depots.
The age of consent was codified as twelve.
The Home Secretary took over the power to reprieve or commute sentences from the judiciary and Privy Council.

And on the eve of Sunday the 7th of April, 1861, Ann was residing at, 2, Bridge Place, South Hackney, Hackney, London & Middlesex, England, with her uncle Robert Arter and his wife Jane Margaret Arter nee Beecliff.
Robert was a Rope Maker, Jane a Twine spinner and Ann a Scholar.

I am so pleased she was taken in my family and didn’t end up in the workhouse.

Death seemed to surround Ann, there was no escaping it, as on Tuesday the 19th of April, 1864, at Poplar Union Workhouse, Poplar, Middlesex, her brother, George Campbell Arter, sadly passed away, aged 19.
He died from Phthisis. (I wonder if it was hereditary?)
His death was registered in Poplar, on Thursday the 21st April 1864, by Thomas Gregory, who was present.
At present I am still searching for his burial.

In 1735, the Poplar parish overseers set up a workhouse in three houses leased for the purpose at the north side of Poplar High Street. In 1757, the workhouse relocated to the south side of the High Street. With the opening of nearby docks in the early 1800s, the population in the area grew and the additional land was acquired to expand the site. Two new buildings were erected in 1815-17 with James Walker as architect and the firm of Horne & Gates as the building contractors.

The three main buildings at this time were: the entrance block at the north, facing onto the High Street, which contained the Master’s quarters, a town hall for the Trustees use, and some inmates accommodation; an eastern wing containing inmates’ wards; and a workshop block to the west. The Trustees wanted to add a further accommodation block on the site of the National School at the west but were unable to buy the property.

In 1816, it was noted that Stratford-le-Bow’s parish workhouse was housed in a “mansion of some antiquity… the ceiling and chimney-case of a large room in the first story are plentifully ornamented with stucco and carving, but neither possesses any armorial allusions.”
On 20th December, 1836 the new Poplar Poor Law Union was formed. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 15 in number, representing representing its 3 constituent parishes as follows (figures in brackets indicate numbers of Guardians if more than one): Poplar, including Blackwall (8); Bromley (4); Stratford-le-Bow (3). The population falling within the new Union at the 1831 census had been 25,066 — ranging from Stratford-le-Bow (population 3,371) to Poplar (16,849). The average annual poor-rate expenditure for the period 1834-36 had been £15,869.
The new union took over the existing Poplar parish workhouse. In the 1840s and early 1850s, a number of additions were made including separate children’s accommodation, a male infirm ward, and a casual ward with an adjoining stone-breaking yard. The site layout at this time is shown on the 1867 map below.

The union had an infirmary on Upper North Street, originally used as an isolation hospital during the cholera epidemic of 1831-2 and enlarged during another outbreak in 1849

In the 1850s, the Poor Law Board’s Inspector criticised the accommodation and described the workhouse as ‘irregular and without design as a whole’. The Guardians considered two improvement schemes, on to add new wings to the existing buildings, the other to rebuild the whole workhouse. The latter was decided upon and in 1869-72, the firm of Hill, Keddel and Waldram constructed a new building to designs by John Morris & Son, retaining only the 1817 High Street block.
The layout was based around an east west corridor spine with a the major buildings running off it. The new buildings, mostly of four-storeys, also included wards for lunatics and probationers. There was also a Gothic-style chapel at the south of the site.
From 1871, the Local Government Board supported an experiment whereby Poplar workhouse admitted only able-bodied paupers who would be subjected to a ‘labour test’ — performing hard manual labour in return for a subsistence allowance for their families — together with strict discipline and the most basic of diets. Any spare capacity was offered to other metropolitan unions and parishes. The scheme proved to be effective with an “Order for Poplar” proving a strong deterrent to able-bodied applicants. However, such Orders increasingly came to be used by unions wishing to get rid of undesirable or troublesome applicants. This could include the aged and physically defective as well as the able-bodied. As early as 1873, the workhouse Medical Officer was complaining of the numbers of inmates who were not able-bodied. In 1880, 235 of the 1284 men admitted to the workhouse were aged over sixty.
During this period, Poplar had an arrangement with the adjacent Stepney union to accommodate its other classes of inmate, with the aged and infirm going to Stepney’s workhouse at Bromley, and the sick to the newly opened Poplar and Stepney Sick Asylum.

How devastating to lose all your immediate family!!!

Jumping forward once again, to the year 1871, the year of the census, Ann seems to be successfully hiding. We have two possibilities but until either of these can be confirmed I would rather not share as I do my upmost to not give you false documentation.
We do believe by this point Ann had met a Irish man, named Patrick John O’Connor, who throughout his documentation comes under the name O’Connor and Connor, as well as going under the name John Patrick, Patrick and also John.
We believe they married but unfortunately we haven’t come across a marriage record for them as of yet. I of course will update you as soon as we locate it. I am so very grateful that she found love and once again, had family.

By the year 1873, Ann was in the family way, and on Thursday the 20th March, 1873, at Number 14, Albert Road, North Woolwich, Kent, England, John Cornelius O’Connor was born.
Ann registered his birth on the 21st April 1873, in Woolwich. 
Ann gave her husband John’s occupation as a Labourer and their abode as, Number 14, Albert Road, North Woolwich. 
However there is a huge possibility that John was actually born at sea, and it is possible that when registering his birth they gave their home address for ease.
I must state that is is not confirmed but what I have always been told since I was a wee child, is that our John Cornelius O’Connor, was born at sea, on the 29th February 1872.
I am not quite ready to believe otherwise, even though official documentation shows a different story.
I can not explain how much it hurts my heart, to go against what our family have always believed to be the truth and show documentation that states otherwise.
I sincerely and wholeheartedly do not want to hurt anyone by doing so and I am dreadfully sorry if his birth certificate upsets you.

It wasn’t long before Ann was once again expecting and their Son, Thomas O’Connor was born on Sunday, the 3rd of March, 1878, at Number 53, Devas Street, Bromley, Poplar, Middlesex, England.
Ann, registered his birth on Wednesday, the 3rd of April 1878, in Woolwich.
She gave her husband John’s occupation as a Labourer and their abode as, Number 53, Devas Street, Bromley.

I’m delighted to share that Ann was once again in the family way, after falling pregnant very quickly after Thomas was born.
Ann and Patrick’s daughter, whom they named, Annie Dorothy O’Connor, was born on Thursday the 27th of March, 1879, at number 6, Shirley Street, Canning Town, Plaistow, West Ham, Essex, England, (On the birth certificate it looks like Astee but on the birth index, it is given as Aster but I believe it is Arter.)
Annie’s father Patrick whom was named John Patrick on Annie’s certificate, was working as a, Dock Labour, at the time of her birth.
Ann, registered Annie’s birth on Friday the 2nd of May, 1879, in Bow.
She registered Annie as Ann O’Connor and gave their residential address as, Number 6, Shirley Street, Canning Town, Plaistow, West Ham, Essex, England.

Jumping forward once again to the year 1881, Queen Victoria was still holding strong, The Prime Minister was, William Ewart Gladstone(Liberal) and it was the 22nd Parliament.
Godalming became the first town to have its streets illuminated by electric light(hydroelectrically generated).
The Natural History Museum was opened in London.
Edward Rudolf founded the ‘Church of England Central Society for Providing Homes for Waifs and Strays’ (later The Children’s Society).  
Postal orders were issued for the first time in Britain.
The first publication of the London Evening News was published.

And on the eve of Sunday the 3rd April 1881, Ann, her husband John aka Patrick John, and their children, John, Thomas and Annie, were residing at, number 77, Scott Street, Canning Town, West Ham, London & Essex, England.
John (Patrick) was working as a Dock Labourer and John Cornelius was a scholar.

Later that year, Ann gave birth to a baby boy, who they named Daniel O’Connor. Daniel was born on Tuesday the 1st November 1881, at Number 8, Montesquieu Street, Plaistow, West Ham, Essex, England.
Ann registered his birth on the 2nd December 1881, in West Ham.
She gave Johns occupation as a, Dock Labourer, and their abode as, Number 8, Montesquieu Street, Plaistow.

And a few short years later, Ann gave birth to their daughter, Rosina Margaret O’Connor, on Saturday, the 29th of January, 1884, at their home, Number 72, Bidder Street, Canning Town, West Ham, Essex, England.
Ann, registered her birth on the 13th March 1885, in West Ham.
Ann gave her husbands name as, John Connor and his occupation as Dock Labourer.

My heart bleeds for Ann and Patrick, my very much loved Great, Great Grandparents, as death never seemed to give them a break.
Heartbreakingly their son, Daniel, died on Thursday the 1st of May, 1884, at The London Fever Hospital, Liverpool Road, Islington, Middlesex, England, aged 2 years and 6 months.
His cause of death was, bronchitis, infantile diarrhoea, convulsions, and scarlatina (scarlet fever).
Ann, of 35, Tucker Street, Canning Town, registered his death.
She gave Patrick John’s occupation as, a labourer. He was named as John, on Daniels death certificate.

The London Fever Hospital (LFH) was founded in 1802 at 2 Constitution Row, Gray’s Inn Lane, just north of Guilford Street, under the official title of The Institution for the Cure and Prevention of Contagious Fevers. It had 15 beds, and was staffed by three nurses, a medical officer, an apothecary and a porter. Typhus was the main disease treated, but smallpox and scarlet fever were also prominent. The Hospital admitted 550 patients in its first two years, and also cleaned and fumigated their homes. In 1815 the Hospital moved to take over a parochial smallpox hospital on the site of what is now King’s Cross station. At that time it had 60 beds, and 60 more were added later. By 1842 the hospital was admitting about 1500 patients a year with typhus and malignant scarlet fever. The fee for treatment was £2 2s, unless the patient had a subscriber’s letter, in which case it was free. Admission was restricted to servants and the ‘decent poor’. Paupers were sent to the workhouses and houses of recovery, while wealthier patients were nursed in their own homes. In 1849 the hospital moved once more, to its permanent site, a 200 bed building with over four acres of land in Liverpool Road, Islington. A succession of well known physicians were on the staff, including Sir William Jenner, who was assistant physician from 1855-1861 and the epidemiologist, Charles Murchison, who was successively assistant physician, physician and consulting physician from 1856-1879. 
In the twentieth century, as many of the infectious diseases of the past began to pose less of a threat to public health, the LFH took on more of the work of a general hospital. By 1938 the isolation block was no longer required and was replaced by a private wing, raising the number of beds to 209. During World War Two, beds at the LFH were allocated for casualties from hospitals that had been damaged in air raids. The Royal Free Hospital was allocated 100 beds, and the City of London Maternity Hospital was given 30. In 1948 the LFH joined the Royal Free Group and became the Royal Free Hospital, Liverpool Road Branch. It contained 130 beds for general cases, though the wards were actually used for obstetric, gynaecological and paediatric cases, apart from 23 additional beds in the private wing. In order to perpetuate the name of the LFH, the remainder of the hospital’s funds, about £10,000, was used to establish the London Fever Hospital Research Fund, used specifically for research into the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. The Liverpool Road site was closed in 1974, but the Royal Free still has a Liverpool Road Division on the Pond Street site, specialising in women and children’s services. 

All the while, Ann was carrying her 5th child.
Ann and Patrick John’s daughter, Rosina Margaret O’Connor, was born on Saturday, the 29th of November, 1884, at their home, Number 72, Bidden Street, Canning Town, West Ham, Essex, England.
Ann registered her birth on the 13th March 1885, in West Ham.
Ann gave her husbands name as, John Connor and his occupation as Dock Labourer.

I am 100% sure this is the right birth certificate for Rosina as her late daughter Rose confirmed her date of birth. The thing that confuses me is her middle name. We were lead to believe it was Margaret but her birth certificate gives Blanch. However it is very common for the Irish Catholics to give a different name on birth certificates and baptism records.

The elation of her birth and the jouissance of her living through infancy, came crashing down around their beautiful family when, Ann’s beloved husband, became sick, with bronchitis and heartbreakingly did not recover.
He died, on Monday the 3rd of January, 1887, at Number 1, Montesquieu Street, Plaistow, West Ham, Essex, England, aged 38.
Ann yet again, carried out the harrowing task of having to register yet another death.
She registered Patrick John’s death on Tuesday the 4th of January, 1887, in West Ham, under the name John Connor and gave his occupation as, Dock labourer, and her abode as Number 1, Montesquieu Street, Plaistow.

Jumping forward to the year 1891, Queen Victoria was still on the throne. Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (Conservative) was Prime Minister and it was the 24th Parliament.
Rachel Beer took over editorship of The Observer, the first woman to edit a national newspaper.
Elementary Education Act abolished fees for primary schooling.
The Great Blizzard of 1891 in the south and west of England lead to extensive snow drifts and powerful storms off the south coast, with 14 ships sunk and approximately 220 deaths attributed to the weather conditions.
Arthur Conan Doyle‘s detective Sherlock Holmes appeared in The Strand Magazine for the first time.
Deptford Power Station (designed by Sebastian Z. de Ferranti for the London Electric Supply Corporation) was fully commissioned, pioneering the use of high voltage (10 kV) alternating current, generating 800 kW for public supply.

And The 1891 census was taken on Sunday the 5th April 1891, which showed that, 15.6 million people lived in cities of 20,000 or more in England and Wales and cities of 20,000 or more account for 54% of the total English population.
More importantly to us, it shows, Ann and two of her Children, John Cornelius and Rosina, residing at number 14, Poplar Street, Canning Town, West Ham, London, England.
Rosina name has been transcribed Kate instead of Rose.

Ann was working as a Factory Hand and John a General Labourer.

Sadly this is where Ann’s life comes to an end.
Ann, died on Sunday the 7th October, 1894, at West Ham Union Workhouse, Leytonstone, Essex, England.
Ann died from, Cancer of the Pancreas and Stomach.
A post-mortem was taken.
E Hall, assistant master of the Union Workhouse, registered her death on the 12th of October 1894.
I wonder how long she had been suffering. I so very much hope, it wasn’t for too long, as pain free as possible and her family were at her bedside at the end.

West Ham Poor Law Union was formed on 31st May 1836. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 24 in number, representing its 7 constituent parishes as listed below (figures in brackets indicate numbers of Guardians if more than one):

Essex: East Ham (2), West Ham (10), Little Ilford, Low Leyton (3), Walthamstow (4), Wanstead (2), Woodford — St Mary (2).
Later Addition: Cann Hall (from 1894).

The population falling within the Union at the 1831 census was 24,770 with parishes ranging in size from Little Ilford (population 115) to West Ham itself (11,580). The average annual poor-rate expenditure for the period 1833-35 had been £14,714 or 11s.11d. per head of the population.
A new West Ham Union workhouse was built in 1839-41 in Leyton. It was designed by Alfred Richard Mason and was based on a T-shaped main block, with lower wings to the rear creating two courtyards for the use of male and female inmates. The building was extended to provide additional accommodation in 1845. Its location and layout are shown on the 1867 OS map below.

The main block was a three-storey structure containing offices, infirm wards and a surgery on the ground floor, the Master and Matron’s quarters and inmates’ wards on the first floor, and lying-in infants’ wards on the second floor. The rear wing contained a dining-room and stores and a kitchen in the basement.
In 1864, a 200-bed infirmary, now demolished was added at the west of the workhouse. The site layout in 1914 is shown below:

There is a lot more information on line, if you fancy a read, as well as photos like this beauty.

Ann O’Connor nee Arter, was laid to rest, on Tuesday, the 09th of October, 1894, at West Ham Cemetery, 133A Cemetery Road, Newham, London, England.
Ann was buried in an open grave with 10 other people.
Her grave reference is RG/59879.

May Your Star Shine Brightly Upon Us,
Ann Arter.
1847-1894

Ann’s life was full of death. Loosing all you immediate family couldn’t have been easy and must have left her with a lot of questions about them and how their dna had embedded in to her personality.
After all the death, it eases my soul to know she felt the love and belonging, of having her own family. I am sure she held them close and hugged them often and for longer than others that haven’t experienced grief on the level Ann had.
I am so grateful she had the love of a good man and that they would have had a good few years of love and happiness.
Even though death came early, the sadness of having such a short life, is made easier knowing she is once again with her nearest and dearest and her son, Daniel and her other children would reunite with her, when their time came.

I hope you enjoyed reading all about Ann and her life. It’s been a pleasure and an absolute honour to share her life with you.
If you are a descendant of our Ann O’Connor nee Arter, and her family, please feel free to join our Facebook group, “Descendants Of John O’Connor”. You can find it here.
We would love to see and hear from you there.  

Until next time,   
Too-da-loo for now.

🦋🦋🦋

I have brought and paid for all certificates,   
Please do not download or use them without my permission.   
All you have to do is ask.  
Thank you.